


The Witch of Wurna Minor

by ElenAranel



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Death, Evil spores, First Person, Gen, Minor Mirror Culmets, Mirror Discovery Crew, Mirror Romulans, Mirror Universe, Mirror Universe general evilness, Not Beta Read, Science for evil, These Are Not Good People, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:21:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElenAranel/pseuds/ElenAranel
Summary: The Discovery hadn't been in space for long. All that science and technology cost the Empire, and the Emperor wanted her money's worth. I hadn't been Captain for long. And I needed respect.- How Sylvia Tilly became the Witch of Wurna Minor.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	The Witch of Wurna Minor

**Author's Note:**

> Mirror Universe - your faves are casually evil, enjoy killing and torture etc. If this bothers you please don’t read!

Killing to get ahead is easy. Catching flu... _alien_ flu... that's so careless. Simple hygiene measures should protect you and if you can't be bothered to keep them up? It's not that I needed to wait for weakness to take out a so called superior but when they rub it in your face, what's a girl to do?

Killing to _stay_ ahead. That's trickier. The Discovery hadn't been in space for long. All that science and technology cost the Empire, and the Emperor wanted her money's worth. I hadn't been Captain for long. And I needed respect.

Of course we had plenty of weaponry - enough to clean up rebel vessels that were unfortunate enough to cross our path, and enough to destroy planets. Well. I suppose Elpha wasn't destroyed, exactly, but no one can live there now. But that's true for all ships in the Imperial fleet.

But I needed to do something special, and Wurna Minor was my chance.

"Wurna Minor is a Romulan outpost near Imperial space. It supplies them with dilithium. Cutting them off will weaken them. I trust you can handle it, _Captain_ Tilly?" The Emperor's holo smiled. "But if not perhaps I'll ask Michael..."

"Consider it done, Emperor," I bowed low, projecting confidence. "Long live the Empire!"

I could not let _Michael Burnham_ take my prize. Cruel she may be, but in the end everything she had she'd been given by the Emperor, even if the Shenzhou was basically a rust bucket. My mother, on the other hand... well, there's only so far you can try to rein a girl in. I would do anything for greatness, and when she wouldn't stay out of my way, I had to make her. I worked hard. I was the youngest ever to earn Master of Poisons. I was well on my way to my first Kills medal. But even so...

"Haj, I want long range scans of Wurna Minor. Make them comprehensive - their defences of course, but I need details of the settlements and the planet itself. Be ready to brief me in an hour. Airiam, you have the conn. Send Stamets to the ready room." I stood, leaving the bridge. 

I could just destroy everything from orbit with high yield torpedoes. It would be tricky, with the dilithium, but do-able. I would have to make the calculations myself, of course, I wouldn't trust Rhys to do it, but it would be clean. But with a little ingenuity, I could do better. 

* * *

The door chimed. "Enter," I said, remaining seated behind my desk, where I had schematics of the various spores Stamets was researching, and their various properties. I continued to examine my data until I could feel him getting annoyed. 

"Commander." I smiled.

"Captain," Stamets narrowed his eyes at me, ever so slightly. "I hope this is important. I'm close to a breakthrough with the mycelial reactor. I believe I can double its efficiency with a few small changes."

"I'm sure the Emperor will be delighted to hear that..." I ignored his attitude. I've found even in command that it's wise to pick your battles. "But I was interested in one of your prototype spores. Prototaxities Stellamori."

"Stellamori is a very promising strain." Stamets' frustration leaked away as he got into spores, his favourite subject. "Lethal to all known biologicals, but doesn't affect technology at all. It actually feeds on living tissue, as well as being toxic. I lost five technicians to it over it's development, but I stopped working on it because priorities changed."

"Do we have a sample?"

"Of course, Captain." Stamets sounded a shade offended that I'd even asked.

"Excellent. Have it brought to my personal lab. Is there an antidote?"

"No, Captain."

"All right. Dismissed," I started my analysis on my desk, not looking up as the doors swished shut behind him. 

I was deep into modelling growth media, and potential antidotes when the door chimed again. 

"Here are the scans you requested, Captain," Haj bowed and handed me his padd. I transferred the data to my desk, and brought the planet up on the holographic display. 

"The planet itself is Class L, and its atmosphere is not breathable for most humanoid species. However there are five city domes in the Northern hemisphere, linked above ground. They have a ground based shield grid over the whole settlement with three emitters, and two birds-of-prey in orbit. They think we can't see through their cloaks." Haj's smile had an edge. "Would you like me to get Rhys to compute destruction scenarios?"

"No. We're going to do much better than mere destruction. How do they transport the dilithium and resupply?"

"They have daily freighter runs. Escorted by a bird-of-prey."

"Have Rhys come up with a solution for taking the shield generators out, and strategies for the birds-of-prey. Dismissed."

After he had gone I changed into a HazMat suit to go into my personal lab. The P. Stellamori sample should be secure but one cannot be too careful - even if someone is not looking to take your place, and they always are, some just enjoy shaking things up. The sample itself was beautiful - blood red roots fading through aqua stems to glowing, grass-green spores. 

I have worked with spores before - I think it's wise to keep abreast with all projects taking place on my ship - but this time I took extra precautions, preparing a force field chamber to work in, in addition to my suit. 

Working from Stamets' research on growing P. Stellaviatori made it easy to get P. Stellamori established in some growth media, and with some carefully calibrated EM radiation I was able to kick start growth to begin producing spores for harvest. 

* * *

I am a master of poisons, but anyone who gets to where I've got in the Terran Empire has to have a talent for antidotes too. We inoculate people working with P. Stellaviatori; modifying that agent to work for the P. Stellamori, and adding an antidote to its toxin with a decent length half life was more of a challenge for me than it would be for a medic or interrogator, but I didn't have anyone I could entirely trust the job to, not yet. It was more of a challenge than growing it, too. I wasn't going to test my inoculant out in person, however. I stretched. Time to make some friends.

On the Bridge - "While I prepare for our victory at Wurna Minor, we mustn't waste our time. Scan to see if there are rebels in the neighbourhood we can put down. I'll be in the interrogation suite. Let me know when you find something."

* * *

Hugh Culber was one of my Discovery crew who I felt I needed to take the most care with. Someone with his specific skill set was valuable to the Empire. Valuable to my ship. But while I didn't think he would have any aspirations to the Captain's chair directly, he was the sort of player who any rivals to me would do well to win round. However, I had a plan for him, too. 

"Doctor Culber, a moment?" He was in his office off the interrogation chambers, a schematic of a human body on screen, and various vials and petri dishes and a microscope to one side.

"I'd like you to synthesise this inoculant for me, and for us to try it out... All the details are on the padd. I was thinking on Lieutenant Stamets' least favourite engineering crewman? Since Stamets has been very helpful to me with the project I'm working on. You would know who they are."

Culber never gives much away but I could see his eyes warm fractionally at mention of Stamets, and doing something to help him. 

"That shouldn't be a problem," Culber drawled. "But I'll need a control, make sure it's a fair test."

"Pick someone. An interrogation subject or someone on the execution list for today. Might make a change from beaming into space; I always think that's so clinical. A bit too clean."

"Aye, Captain. I'll let you know when the... experiment... is ready to perform."

I nodded to him, allowing myself a small smile.

"Bridge to Captain Tilly," I held back my sigh. A Captain's work is never done.

"Go ahead," I wandered round the agonizers, noting they all seemed to running at maximum efficiency. 

"Rebels detected Captain. Shall we change course to intercept?"

"Yes. I'll be there shortly. Tilly out."

* * *

Three rebel crafts flew in a pitiful attempt at a defensive formation. It was sad really. Better to put them out of their misery. Though, the misery would end for some sooner than others.

"Airiam, block their comms. Rhys, target two of the rebel vessels and destroy them. Your choice. Disable the third but don't destroy it."

"Captain? You don't want me to take out all three?" Rhys sounded surprised.

"I gave you an order, Rhys. Or would you prefer me to replace you with someone who can follow a simple command?"

"Aye Captain," he sounded suitably quelled, but I made a mental note to keep an eye on him. 

"Haj, prepare a tractor beam for the disabled ship. Bring it into the shuttle bay. Patel, have a security team ready to transfer any survivors to the agony booths. We'll torture them, see if they know anything, before they join their comrades.

"Nilsson, attack pattern theta two. Fire when ready, Rhys." I sat back in my chair, enjoying the show. When it became clear fleeing wasn't an option, the three vessels attempted a multi vector attack on us which was charming, in a way, especially since they couldn't communicate with each other. It may even have been an effective tactic had their weapons been able to do more than slightly scratch our shields. It was over all too quickly, however. Not truly satisfying.

I remained on the bridge until the end of beta shift, monitoring from the chair. Rhys had done a good job with the rebel vessel we caught; its shields and weapons systems were offline but propulsion and transporters were intact. Perfect for my plan. Pollard was interrogating two Vulcans and a Tellarite, though they were unlikely to know much. I sent a message to the Chief Engineer ordering him to prepare EM darts for transport, calibrated to my specifications. I also sent a message to the Emperor, letting her know that there was a special plan for Wurna Minor, although I didn't go into specifics. I did _not_ need her to think I was incapable of carrying out a simple mission. 

* * *

Being a Captain has its perks. My personal slave knows how to prepare the most relaxing bath - just the smell of lavender and eucalyptus is enough for the tension of command to begin to melt away. Her back rubs help too. And my sleep was all the deeper for the comforting feel of a phaser under the pillow and a dagger strapped to my hip.

* * *

"Culber to Captain Tilly. Our experiment is ready." The message I needed to know today would be a good day. 

I met him, with Stamets, in the observation area of Biological Testing Lab C. The lab was in two parts: one larger area, protected by adjustable force fields for the actual experiment, and an observation room, with transparent aluminium walls. Both sections were accessed separately from the corridor, and the test section had a decontamination unit to protect the rest of the ship.

"Gene has had the inoculant. The Vulcan rebel has not. Shall we see what happens?" Culber's smile was anticipatory. Dangerous.

"Computer, spores transport program two, authorisation Tilly delta seven," there was a golden sparkle and the lab filled with thousands of tiny glowing points of green spores.

As the spores settled on both Gene and the Vulcan, she remained impassive. She couldn't move because of her restraints, but I could see her eyes tighten, just a little. 

"The toxicity isn't affecting Gene at all, as we hoped," Culber looked over lifesign readings on the console. "Our Vulcan subject is currently having a mild histamine response." A little relish crept into his voice. "But I project that if the toxin continues to affect her at the current rate, it will kill her within eighteen hours."

"That's good to know, Culber. Stamets, shall we try the EM pulse?"

Stamets actually smiled. "I thought you'd never ask," he said, moving to the other console. "Captain, with your permission I would like to start at a lower level than the pulse rate you calculated, so that we can... examine the effects."

"So ordered, Commander." My voice held a note of anticipation. I love science.

"Rate set at twenty five percent. Firing now!" Pale blue energy flashed through the lab as a low percussive sound hit. Immediately the spores began to put out glowing blood red roots, although slowly. Ponderously. Small.

Gene stood watching, still unaffected - the roots could get no purchase on him. The Vulcan, on the other hand...

Hurting Vulcans is unlike hurting any other species. Some find it frustrating, the way they don't initially react to pain, but I love taking my time, ramping it up until they crack. If I'm interrogating a Vulcan I don't immediately set the agony booth to a higher setting, as some do. I think it's more effective to let them think about their pain for a while, _logically_.

A green flush began to bloom across her cheeks, as the tiny roots made contact with her skin. They found purchase, burrowing in, causing small sores to spring up. First on her arms, then her shoulders. They were still growing slowly but I could see her breathing speed up a little. All those tell-tale hints of a Vulcan in real pain. 

Culber was monitoring both subjects' vitals on his screens; Gene's were broadly at baseline level with a small spike in adrenaline, but the Vulcan's levels were all up, especially her heart rate. Good. 

"Ready for fifty percent? Culber? Stamets?"

"I have all I need at this level," Culber sounded businesslike.

"As do I. With your permission, Captain?" I nodded, and Stamets entered some commands. "Fifty percent... now." The flash was brighter this time, the noise louder, and the spores reacted immediately, roots increasing in size and number. Gene remained unaffected, which was satisfying - no need for Culber to fix my work.

The Vulcan was sweating and breathing heavily now, her short brown hair sticking to her forehead. The roots were growing into her arms, like red glowing veins. Like she had proper, iron based blood. The veins spread up her neck, and she tensed, desperate to cling onto control. 

Culber's eyes were no longer on his read outs. He like me was observing the effects directly, and I could feel something calculating there. Stamets on the other hand was deep into his readings. 

"I'm detecting energy transfer, not just from the EMP but from our subject as well. As I had hoped."

"Excellent. Seventy-five percent, Stamets."

"Aye. Pulse at seventy-five... now."

The light seemed white, fading to blue this time, and although it hurt my eyes a little bit I didn't allow myself to flinch. I could feel the pulse through my boots. 

The roots were very obviously growing through the Vulcan, up to her face and over all the rest of her exposed skin. Her eyes widened and she panted as a shoot emerged from her right shoulder, thin at first but thickening and branching out into fernlike, treelike structures. Another emerged from her left hand, and she tensed up further, if possible, muscles standing out. 

"I'm detecting structures growing inside her," Culber seemed fascinated. "Her control is really quite something. But we'll break her."

"The energy flow readings are exactly as I would hope, Captain. The structures are able to grow from the EM pulse alone," Stamets gestured at the little fungi plants growing from glowing red roots on the floor, "but they grow even more effectively in living tissue."

"Seems like we have one more level to test."

"Yes Captain. One hundred percent. Now."

I shut my eyes for this one, and the pulse glowed red through my eyelids as it vibrated through my body. As I opened my eyes, the Vulcan opened her mouth and screamed. The roots growing in her were pulsing with light and energy, and as she screamed new shoots poked through her stomach, her temple, and the existing ones bloomed, showering her in glowing green spores. Her whole body shone red, and she began to come apart at the edges. Her screaming didn't stop, even as her shoulder flaked into glowing fragments that glittered and disappeared, and the same thing happened to her hand.

The Vulcan took a few heavy, laboured breaths and screamed again. She screamed once more, but the scream was choked off. Her mouth stayed open, though, as shoots came up through her throat. Even her eyes were glowing red, and she took one, two more breaths before she slumped back, dead. Her body didn't last very much longer, flaking away around the fungus looking almost like a shrub.

"Will the fungi keep spawning?" I asked Stamets, peering over his shoulder at his console. 

"No Captain." Stamets was as enthusiastic as I'd ever heard him. He gestured to some read outs, showing the root structures were already diminishing. "I engineered this strain to require a constant source of energy - either from an EMP, or from living matter. If the energy source is disrupted it dies back very quickly... after around three hours the fungi will be dead, and I would estimate there will be nothing left within four hours."

"That leaves the question of what to do with Gene. We want to see how long the protection lasts, right, Culber?"

"If we set up a force field in half the lab, we can continue using low powered pulses to keep the spores within it alive, while we gather data on the decay rate of the rest of them." 

"Excellent suggestion. If you could handle that for me, and keep me updated?"

"Aye Captain."

"And when the protection does wear off... It would be good to get confirmation on the effectiveness of the toxin, too. No need to let Gene out. It's for the Empire."

* * *

Nearly all the pieces were in place. I ordered another round of scans of Wurna Minor, and called Haj and the chief engineer to meet me in the shuttle bay. 

"Status on the rebel shuttle. Can it fly? Are the transporters functional?"

"Warp and Impulse are both functional, but it can only manage Warp 4. Shields are at fifteen percent maximum. The transporters are the old lateral vector model but seem to be functioning normally." Haj checked items off his padd. 

"Good. I need it to be a drone ship we can control from Discovery, with no possibility of override. So hard coded navigation, and remote controlled transporter, sensors, auto destruct - everything. Will this be a problem?"

"I can get that done, Captain. Should be ready in three hours." I was surprised - the chief was generally not one to speak up in my presence.

"Make it two. I will send some more specifics through from the bridge. Haj, this is top priority. I need you to make sure engineering has everything they need to get this done."

* * *

I will admit I felt a little nervous. I am fully confident in my own abilities, but part of being a Captain is relying on others. Others who are not as loyal as you. Others who are not as smart as you. Others who'd like a turn in the chair.

But most of me felt excited. This was finally my time.

"Haj, status on the shuttle?"

"It's in range, of Wurna Minor, Captain. As are the freighters. I can get a visual, it'll be a bit grainy but..."

"On screen."

The planet was a fuzzy tan blur, digital artefacts making it a little difficult to look at. The escort bird-of-prey and the five freighters were a bit more in focus; the shuttle's sensors couldn't see the other two ships which were cloaked, but ours could.

Haj had disguised our communications with the shuttle as low band subspace radiation, and the fact that the ship was still intact showed they hadn't detected anything suspicious so far.

"The bird-of-prey is scanning," Haj reported. Much as I would have liked to kill the other rebel prisoners, I was glad I hadn't. The escort would see an unconscious Vulcan and Tellerite, with weak lifesigns, after an apparent plasma fire, still generating tetryon radiation. Radiation that hid the fact that the ship had recently seen combat. Radiation that hit the other... surprises... aboard.

"Steer clear of the freighters. It can't look like a threat."

"Aye Captain," Haj sent the commands, and the viewscreen pitched toward the bird-of-prey, movement erratic. 

"The freighters remain on course," a little tension in his voice. This was the trickiest part of the plan. 

"They're attempting to beam the rebels over, but the radiation is blocking their transporters."

"Airiam, are you patched into their comms?"

"Yes Captain. The freighters have been ordered to make the drop as usual..."

I brought up the scans on my chair's console. Haj knew what to do, but still... the freighters began their descent, nearing the shield. 

"Ready?"

"Aye Captain. Transport in three... two... one... Mark. Transport successful."

"Any sign that any tactical systems have been engaged?"

"No, Captain. It should just look like a random fluctuation in the transport systems, if they were able to detect it at all."

I breathed out, gently. Part one complete. 

"Shall I destroy the shuttle now Captain?"

I looked at my scans again. "Ye... no. The bird-of-prey has tractored it." The view screen was suffused in green light as the beam flowed all round the shuttle. 

"This is better than the plan. Set the timer, have it go as soon as it gets in their shuttle bay. But have it leak a little plasma first; I still want this to look like an accident."

"Aye Captain," Haj activated the necessary sequences. 

I wished we were in range for visual scanners to show us what would happen next.

On screen the bird-of-prey grew bigger, shuttle bay doors opening. The green light of the tractor beam disappeared; presumably they had switched to smaller emitters to guide the shuttle the rest of the way inside.

If anything the image was even grainier now, and it was hard to make out any details of the bay itself, beyond something that looked like stacked crates to the left, and what might have been another shuttle to the right. The lighting changed - probability an indication that the bay was being re-pressurised - and then static. 

"Shuttle destroyed, Captain," Haj announced with satisfaction as he set the view screen to a view of the gas giant we were waiting behind. "Severe damage to the bird-of-prey, but it seems as though it's holding together."

"I suppose we can't have everything. Had the freighters reached the surface before we lost sensors?"

"Yes Captain," Airiam chimed in. "I monitored their landing confirmation with the bird-of-prey."

"Excellent. Now we wait. Airiam, prepare a portable holo-communicator; set it with a wide field. I think people will need to see our good work."

I could imagine what would be happening on the ground - supplies would be being unloaded from the freighters, at each dome, prior to dilithium being loaded for the return trip. Supplies would be distributed around the settlements. And no one would have any reason to think anything was wrong, apart from the accident in the sky. And maybe a little itchiness.

* * *

Waiting is not my favourite. Killing is, so after I got inoculated I decided to fill the time by moving up the executions of our latest set of prisoners. I deserved a treat. They deserved... ...well.

* * *

"Engineering reports transport is ready."

"A security team has been inoculated and are standing by in the transporter room."

"Communication jamming on standby."

"Shields are up."

"Tactical systems engaged."

"Red Alert. Nilsson, maximum warp. Time for some fun."

I stood as we dropped into orbit of Wurna Minor. The damaged bird-of-prey was in front of us, an ugly hole in its hull with burnt edges, and I could just make out a few drones working on it. The planet, domes visible, was behind.

"Airiam, jamming. Rhys, fire!"

Two volleys of torpedoes flew across the viewscreen, to the left and to the right, passing by the damaged bird-of-prey. The left hit first - torpedoes flying through the dark and then a small orange explosion, followed by a much bigger one, brightening to white - a warp core breach. Before I could really enjoy it, space _shimmered_ , as the second bird-of-prey started to de-cloak. It wasn't fast enough for us, though - the torpedoes hit before it could raise shields, another gorgeous explosion. 

I braced myself as the shockwaves hit, watching as they rocked the damaged bird-of-prey, which was coming about.

"Rhys, target their warp core and fire. Full volley."

The torpedoes flashed across the space between us, but as we fired they did too.

"Nilsson, evasive manoeuvres," I sat down in the chair, bringing up a tactical map on my console. I couldn't lose my footing when we were hit. 

"Rhys, fire torpedoes again and phasers when we're in range."

"Aye, Captain," he said as Discovery shook as we were hit.

"Damage report!" 

"Shields are holding at eighty five percent, Captain. Minor damage to the EPS grid on deck five. Repair teams are on the way."

The shields were still holding on the damaged bird-of-prey as we came in for a closer pass, but I knew they wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Rhys loosed another volley of torpedoes, and then fired phasers, taking out their forward shields. They tried to come about again, to prolong their pain, but one more phaser hit and it was all over for them. I braced myself and narrowed my eyes, watching its warp core breach - that much brighter because it was that much closer.

"Now we've got rid of the annoyances, why don't we get what we came for? Nilsson, bring us in range of the planet."

Wurna Minor really wasn't much to look at - all dusty orange-brown, and barren. It would be much better when we had cleansed it and terraformed it. Domes are very... twenty second century.

"We're in position, Captain."

"Rhys, fire."

The shields glowed blue over the settlement, a large curved triangular shape, contrasting with the orange of our torpedoes. But not for long - three torpedoes hit simultaneously, and the shield flickered. 

"I estimate they're down to eighty percent, Captain," Haj was poring over his scans.

Rhys fired six torpedoes this time, and the shields faded for a moment then flared brighter, before settling, noticeably less bright than before.

"Forty percent, Captain."

"Lets finish this, Rhys," I said, standing again. We were so close.

"Captain. I'm getting a transmission from the planet." I turned to Airiam who was frowning at her display.

"I thought we were still jamming them," I said, allowing a note of danger into my voice.

"We are, Captain, but the dilithium underground is interfering with the signal. They can't communicate off-world, but they can still talk to us." Airiam tried to hide the nerves in her voice and almost succeeded. It's not a good idea to surprise a Terran captain with bad news. However, I let it slide, this time. "Screen only. They're not advanced enough for holos." She was on firmer ground here, her contempt for the Romulans obvious.

"Oh well. May as well put them through," I turned to face the viewscreen. "Fire anyway, Rhys."

The viewscreen cut to a large, bright room that was all sweeping lines and curves. To the right were large windows looking down over one of the settlements, and to the left were banks of screens and consoles, with Romulans hurrying between them. In the middle stood a tall male wearing a grey-green jacket with pronounced shoulder pads. A poor choice for his skin tone.

"Well?" I asked, in my best off-putting voice.

"Er... Greetings, Captain. I am Commander Livore of Wurna Minor. What are your intentions here?"

"Your dilithium, of course. And to kill you all. Why, what did you think?"

He scratched at the back of his neck, absently. "I was hoping we could come to terms. We have families here - women and children. The unprocessed dilithium is quite unstable - if you fire on us again, it might ignite and harm you."

"Oh, I'm aware." I smiled. He flinched slightly. I could just see a few little green lights in the room, almost like glitter, or motes of dust in sunlight. None of the Romulans appeared to have noticed.

"But we would be very happy to trade - perhaps the first shipment for nothing? As a goodwill gesture?"

"Commander. We're taking everything you have, and there's nothing you can do. Haj, signal engineering to transport. Commander, I'll see you soon," I smiled again as I gestured Airiam to cut the transmission.

"Transport successful, Captain."

"Activate the pulses. Airiam, Patel, ready to join me? Haj, you have the conn."

* * *

The screaming alone was _spectacular_. 

I'd had a forcefield generator beamed down ahead of us, but we didn't need it. 

The air was thick with the sparkling green spores, in the room and outside the window. Red roots were growing through most of the Romulans, and a few already had fungi shoots growing out through their skin. 

The Commander had stripped off his jacket, and a shoot was growing up and out from under his shirt. As I watched, it bloomed, releasing another shower of spores. 

"Airiam, activate the holo-com. Put us through to the Emperor. Commander, it's lovely to meet you in person."

He merely stared at me, gasping, eyes glassy.

"What... did... you... do?" he forced out, hoarse. I wondered if he could feel the shoots growing in his throat. 

"Yes, Captain Tilly, what _did_ you do?" Emperor Georgiou materialised, ghostly, in front of me, a slight smile playing round her lips. 

I bowed low, feeling Airiam and my security team bowing in unison with me. 

"All hail the Empire! Long Live the Emperor!" We saluted. 

The Emperor returned the salute. 

"Welcome to Wurna Minor, Emperor. Commander... Limore? Was just congratulating us on the Empire’s victory here.

"I did think about flattening the settlement from orbit, but even though Romulan technology is inferior, it seemed a waste to destroy everything. Some of the dilithium would have been lost, at least. So instead I decided to use one of Stamets' experimental spore strains. I finished the development, and now it's growing in every living thing on this planet. I thought you might enjoy the show."

The Emperor turned, taking in the glowing spores and roots spreading around the room. "It certainly looks... magical." She raised a brow. "Does it leave a mess?"

"No, Emperor. It transforms matter to energy on the mycelial plain. See the Commander?"

The Commander was coughing, eyes glowing red now, as a large structure grew out of his head. He didn't have long. 

The Emperor turned towards him, as he started to flake apart. 

"See the fragments flaking off him? That will happen to his whole body. And in three hours, once there's no longer anything for the fungus to process, it will die back into dust."

"And you even made yourself immune. Excellent work, Captain Tilly. I admit I'm surprised. Pleasantly so. I knew you could handle the mission, but the ingenuity, the destruction... beautiful. You and your crew will do well out of this. Send samples of the spores and the antidote to me. I will send reinforcements and slaves, to start mining for the Empire. Oh and make sure you record plenty of footage. Our enemies would do well to fear the Witch."

I bowed deep again, and she cut transmission. 

There was still work to do - inspecting, recording, making sure everything was secure. Preparing to destroy the next bird-of-prey that would be on the way escorting the next freighter shipment. But I allowed myself to bask for just a moment. The Emperor thought my work was beautiful. She called me the Witch.

**Author's Note:**

> I had more fun writing evil than I should have. But being Terran must be _exhausting_. 
> 
> There’s not a lot of canon for Mirror Romulans so I took some liberties - in this I imagine the Romulan Republic is similar to the Federation in our universe. They are suspicious of the Terrans but by this stage they haven’t had a lot of contact and unfortunately are out of their depth. They’re a little naïve and complacent. Tilly would have access to our Discovery’s cloak breaking algorithm thanks to the USS Defiant’s time and universe travel shenanigans.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. Feedback is very welcome <3
> 
> Find me on tumblr: [elen-aranel](https://elen-aranel.tumblr.com/)


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